Tory Toiler

JOE WHO? That disbelieving headline appeared in the Toronto Star three years ago, the day after an obscure M.P. from rural Alberta emerged as leader of Canada's Progressive Conservative Party, following a hotly contested convention. The question quickly became a national joke, and the joke led to insults. "Henry Aldrich from Alberta," sniffed one Liberal Cabinet minister.

Even fellow Tories were not above tossing off a quip: "When he comes into a room," joked former Party President Dalton Camp, "Conservatives can't make up their minds whether to stand up or send him out for coffee." Rising will now certainly be in order.

The title he earned last week is one that Joe Clark has coveted since his boyhood days in High River, Alta., when, recalled a cousin, "he really did say that he wanted to be Prime Minister. We used to kid him a lot about it." The shy, ungainly son of a local newspaper editor and his schoolteacher wife, Clark was an average student who did well in English and public speaking. He became a member of the campus Tory club while earning a B. A. in history at the University of Alberta, and studied law for a year before realizing how much more he enjoyed politics than jurisprudence. Clark returned to Alberta for an M. A. in political science and proceeded to become the most industrious of party drudges --chauffeuring local candidates, distributing flyers, ringing doorbells.

That energy, perseverance and talent for organization earned Clark the attention of party elders. From 1969 to 1972 he was executive assistant to then Tory Leader Robert Stanfield. He resigned to run for the House of Commons from the Alberta district of Rocky Mountain; he won his seat and, shortly afterward, his future wife when 20-year-old Maureen McTeer volunteered to work for him. The couple married in 1973 and have a two-year-old daughter. Maureen, who continues to use her maiden name and is pursuing her own career as a lawyer, campaigned vigorously for her husband during the past election.

When speaking before large audiences Clark often appears stiff and uneasy. He is at his best with small groups.

He listens well and, as one aide puts it, "prides himself on being able to get along with other people." Rather like ex-President Gerald Ford, he has an unnerving gift for bumping into inanimate objects and asking inept questions. For example, he inquired of a moped rider: "Is that motorized?"

Last January Clark embarked on a two-week tour of four countries in order to demonstrate his foreign affairs expertise, but his less-than-sure grasp of issues as well as missed planes and lost luggage led one Montreal newspaper to dub his journey "Around the World in 80 Gaffes."

Once he moves into the Prime Minister's official residence at 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa, Clark will have less time for two favorite relaxations--taking Maureen to the movies and reading whodunits. Like Trudeau, Clark is a devout Roman Catholic who attends Mass every Sunday. As a drinker, he prefers Coke to liquor.

Canadians have plenty of questions about Clark's inexperience and leadership qualities but relatively few about his sincerity and diligence. "We will not take this nation by storm, by stealth or by surprise," he once promised his fellow Tories. "We will win it by work."

Now that ten years of hard political toil have carried him to the top, Joe Clark is not likely to slack off.

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